Galpin Ford’s Wild Customs, Including a Mustang Powered by Four Engines
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Tucked into a corner at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show is the Galpin Hall of Customs, a cornucopia of unique, offbeat, and plain wacky automobiles created by local dealer Galpin Ford, an LA fixture since the 1950s.
Galpin Motors - opens in new window or tab., and especially its legendary owner/president Bert Boeckmann, believed firmly in the power of good publicity, and it seems to have worked. Galpin, still run by Boeckmann’s family, continues to be the top-selling Ford dealership, but also sells Lincoln, Jaguar, Honda, Mazda, VW, Kia, and Subaru. It was the dealership’s crazy customs—the wilder the better—that put Galpin on the map.
The Mach IV wasn’t all show—it made 180 mph, and seven-second quarter miles.
The Mustang-based Mach IV of 1969 is a V-8-powered “funny car,” but this one has a key difference—it has not one, but four 351-cubic-inch Windsor engines mounted back to back on a chrome moly tube chassis, forming a cube ahead of its fiberglass bodywork. Built by Gary Weckesser in eight months, the Mach IV was tested at 180 miles per hour, and could achieve seven-second quarter miles.
Having served its purpose, the Mach IV faded into obscurity, but in 2015 Weckesser and the original team got back together and restored its former glory. In LA, its white Billy Carter mini-flake paint and abundant chrome again shining, the funny car looked ready to break eardrums again. Finding an appropriate race series might be difficult, but at least the parts supply for those hugely popular Windsor V-8s - opens in new window or tab. should be no problem.
The Backup Pickup wowed ‘em between ’69 and ’71—in reverse. The show car is a recreation, complete with odd placement of the steering wheel.
Just as wild as the Mach IV is the Backup Pickup, a 1965 Ford Econoline truck that hit the dragstrip—in reverse. Between 1969 and 1971, the wheelstanding dragster made colorful exhibition runs, with creator George Tuers running backward at 120 mph, with speed and steering controlled by shifters. The LA show car is an exacting replica, built in just 12 weeks by Galpin’s Dave Shuten. Power comes from a fuel-injected 427 - opens in new window or tab. making 950 horsepower (the original had a measly 500).
Ron Hornaday was Galpin’s service manager—and a winning NASCAR driver.
A recreated ’64 Galaxie racer is a reminder that Galpin service manager Ron Hornaday was also a top NASCAR contender for the dealership’s team.
The Galpin Hall of Customs also sported one of the dealership’s 1967 rumble-seat Mustangs, a Pink Panther car (also by Dave Shuten), and the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine—in this iteration, based on a VW Microbus.
Galpin also had its hand in the flying Ford Pinto. The iconic compact car was married to a Cessna Skymaster. Two were built and completed some flights, but a fiery, fatal crash ended the program.
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